Serious People, Who is Learning Magic at Marvel?

Sometimes, a lot of things don't need to be resolved by talking.

Aatrox is five meters tall, his golden skin gleams in the sunlight, and his face is covered tightly by a visor that intersects with gold and silver, so that people can't see his eyes, but instead. It further highlights his divinity and transcendence. And now, this extraordinary being with a great sword as tall as him is standing outside your city walls.

The soldiers on the city wall were nervously holding the bows and arrows in their hands, but they couldn't help shaking their legs for a long time. As long as Aatrox showed even the slightest intention to attack, they would throw down their weapons and run away.

But Aatrox did not attack.

He inserted the giant sword into the yellow sand on the ground, and said sadly in ancient Shurima: "Son of the sand, what has time made you look like? Such a weak building can also be called a city wall. ?"

Nasus, much shorter than him, whispered beside him: "They don't understand you, General."

"How could it be? Could it be that the Son of Yellow Sand has turned into a beast? This is the seventh city, and no one can understand it?" Aatrox asked inexplicably, and then he smiled wryly.

"Yeah, if not, it's almost the same. I've seen all along the way, the civilians are dressed in shabby, even scantily clad. And the soldiers protecting them don't even have armor, and their weapons are ridiculous. The city in front of us, Not even cavalry..."

Aatrox shook his head, and the ancient Shurima came out of his mouth like some sort of cadence. The guards on the city wall had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, only that this golden giant looked extremely noble, and when he spoke, there was an urge to kneel.

"It's our problem, General. Or, my problem."

Nasus bowed his head: "I've been in despair for so long that our people don't even remember the names of their ancestors. But now, we still have a chance to change everything."

Aatrox nodded, and he drew his great sword and held it against his shoulders. His wings spread out like a veil of starlight, reflecting a dazzling halo in the sunlight, and he was ready to attack.

At this moment, Nasus said: "General, this time may be different. Why don't you stand for a while with your sword?"

Aatrox smiled noncommittally.

Nasus stood beside Aatrox, leaning on his scepter, and the two waited patiently. It didn't take long for a fat man wearing a luxurious robe and a laurel crown to walk out of the not-so-tall city wall. He was panting heavily, his face full of fear, but he still stood among the soldiers with a machete in his hand.

see,

Aatrox nodded approvingly: "Although he is fat and bloated, and he doesn't even know how to hold a sword. But he dares to face me, not bad."

Not bad, Nasus thought. They went all the way, and this was the seventh city that needed to be taken back. The first six city masters either saw them coming from a distance and fled, or they mobilized all the guards to shrink in their mansions, thinking that they would be able to avoid judgment. Without exception, this is the only one who dares to face them.

The man still trembling on the wall didn't know about it, but, whatever his motive, his actions saved him from death. The first six city lords who did not dare to face them all died under Aatrox's great sword, with no bones left.

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He Shenyan played with the golden ring in his hand.

He was sitting in an old building with a dilapidated exterior wall, and the moonlight penetrated through those gaps. Around the mage, the magic tablets used to record history and knowledge in the ancient Shurima empire are scattered all over the place.

It can be seen that this place should have been a library or something. A deep square cavity was cut out on the inner wall, just enough to place those magic slates. It's a pity that the person responsible for sorting these slates has long since passed away, and the slates that they regarded as treasures in their lifetimes are now scattered on the ground at will.

Only half of the slate remained in the ceiling, but from that only half left a glimpse of the glory of the ancient Shurima Empire. He Shenyan raised his head and looked at the half-year slate, which had exquisite reliefs engraved with the stars under the night. And the position of those stars is exactly the same as under the night outside.

A slate floated out of thin air and flew in front of He Shenyan. The mage carefully looked at the ancient words above, and the heavy sense of history came to his face.

He said to himself: "Strange, it's impossible that the evil weapon did not appear in the ancient Shurima Empire, but I can't find any records."

He turned around casually and asked the spirit body of the woman in armor behind him, "Do you know? After ascending to martial arts, His Majesty Setaka?"

Setaka didn't answer, she asked instead, "When did you find me?"

"you guess?"

He Shenyan smiled wickedly and raised the golden ring in his hand: "Let's talk about this."

Setaka shook his head: "The blasphemy, I thought I had expelled them all."

"You can't cast out an evil weapon, ma'am."

Setaka smiled: "Mage, you are stronger than those protoss, but there are still things you don't know in this world - of course we can expel them!"

He Shenyan raised his eyebrows and put on an 'I'm very interested' expression: "Really? Then, I'm all ears."

With Setaka's story, He Shenyan gradually understood how the ancient Shurima Empire dealt with evil weapons. They're using a rather tricky approach, which isn't technically an expulsion.

How do they do it? Very simple, select a few determined warriors and let them receive training in mental protection. Then hand over the evil weapon to them, and let them take this thing and throw it into a dangerous place far away from people through unstable teleportation magic. They have the ability to survive, but will not try to return to the empire.

They will be taught some spiritual protection magic, and then carry some protective equipment made by the magician of the Empire. These implements also erase their memories of the Empire when they are corrupted, ensuring that they cannot return to Shurima even if corrupted.

To put it bluntly, it is still the same old trick of sealing and repression. It's just that the evil weapons are all far away from Shurima's territory. In this way, even if the warriors are eventually corrupted and swallowed by the evil weapon, they will not be able to return to Shurima, and they will not be able to cause damage to Shurima.

He Shenyan shook his head: "This is not expulsion, this is just sacrifice."

"Yes, but effective, that's enough."

"Is it as effective as the way you exist now?" He Shenyan said suddenly.

A proud smile hung on Setaka's face, she opened her hands, and the moonlight from the crack in the wall hit her, penetrating the blue body straight: "Yes. Now, I am with Shurima, Mage."

She's not talking about a metaphor, she's describing the fact that Setaka bound her soul to the sands of Shurima, and she became something like an earthbound spirit. One is prosperous, and one is lost. He Shenyan could feel that her soul was extremely weak and full of pain.

It seems that her approach is not without cost.

He Shenyan rarely sees such a lunatic, and he counts one himself. He began to wonder, could other Ascended do this as well? Then, he came to a negative conclusion.

Setaka is obviously the most special individual among the Ascended.

The ascendants have been transformed into their life forms after infusing the unowned astral energy through the solar disk, and they have basically nothing to do with humans in terms of their physical structure. Even the soul, but Setaka is the only one special.

The other ascenders, regardless of their strength, lost their human form. Only Setaka, not only did she maintain her human form, but she didn't even change her height. But her strength is the strongest among them, which is extremely unreasonable.

"The sheep spirit and the wolf spirit want to take me away, but they can't kill the desert. Although my body is dead, my soul still exists - I am with this land, and no one can take it away! "

She smiled proudly: "Not even death itself!"

"I have another question." He Shenyan said, "If you love your country so much, why didn't you show up when your descendant's dynasty collapsed and the Void began to function again?"

"The reason is very simple, Mage, so simple that you may not even believe it when I say it." Setaka restrained her smile, and her expression became serious.

"Although I briefly escaped the pursuit of death, in the end, the sheep spirit and wolf spirit will still find me. I can always hide in the desert as long as I don't show up. But your arrival made me realize that maybe this is the Only chance."

"I can't wait any longer, who knows when the next opportunity like this will come? The star spirits are eyeing the world, and the danger of the void is imminent. The people of the empire are now weak and pitiful. The conversation was very short, Mage. So, while I appreciate your help to the Empire, I'm afraid I can't give you any reward."

"You shouldn't be able to give what I want, Her Majesty. Besides, I didn't do these things to ask for something in return." The mage said lightly.

A gust of wind blew through the ruins, making a hollow echo. Rolling up waves of yellow sand and blowing across Setaka's illusory body, she stared at He Shenyan, and suddenly chuckled: "It seems it's time, Mage. Say goodbye to Aatrox for me."

After she finished speaking, she turned around without any hesitation. Behind her, the sheep spirit and wolf spirit who appeared at some point were standing there.

Sheepling's voice was as ethereal as ever, and she fiddled with the silver-white bowstring in her hand: "Escaper, you have nowhere to escape."

The wolf spirit roared, unable to hide the excitement in his tone, or maybe it didn't even think about covering it up: "You can't escape! Hunt! I want to hunt you!"

Setaka smiled disdainfully: "I didn't want to run away at all, come on, God of Death! Let me see if there really is a world for the dead after death!"

Lamb Ling did not speak. She aimed the bow in her hand at the person who had escaped death for thousands of years. She pulled the bowstring and then let go. The invisible phantom arrow penetrated Setaka's head in an instant, and she turned into a puff of blue smoke and slowly dissipated.

"Hello, Qian Jue. We meet again." He Shenyan took the initiative to greet them, looking very polite.

Not only that, he deliberately restrained his magic power, trying to make himself seem harmless to humans and animals. He's like someone who feeds a feral cat with food in his hand, doing his best to make his voice amiable with a gentle smile on his face.

The wolf spirit howled directly: "It's the escapee! Sheep! Can I hunt him down?! Can I? Can I?!"

It seems to have a different concept of escape and pursuit in its mind, like a dog trained on Pavlovian reflexes. He kept howling excitedly, his body like a shadow wrapped around the sheep spirit, and his wide open mouth was full of fangs.

"He's not dead yet, Wolf. It's time for us to go, there's a war going on in the East - mortal lives are waiting to be harvested." Sheep Ling responded to the manic wolf spirit with an ethereal voice, strumming the bowstring lightly, ignoring it. He Shenyan immediately dissipated. There was no trace as they came.

Well, the feeding plan failed.

Seeing this, He Shenyan tutted angrily: "Why don't you fall for it? Then the damn wolf doesn't know how to rush over directly..."

After saying that, he shook his head and continued to look at the scattered slates that recorded history and knowledge.

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Unifying all the cities in Shurima in one go is not so difficult for the Ascended. After Aatrox and Nasus captured all the twelve cities in Shurima in one go, there were only two questions left before them.

First, to appease the hearts of the people.

Even if it is peaceful conquest, it does not mean that everyone is of one mind.

The people of Shurima have heard tales of celestial warriors as children, and how many of them really believe in these ancient tales that no one knows. Only the elderly Shurima have a sense of awe in the desert. After all, the sand here has existed for so long that any rumors may be true.

No, isn't the god warrior coming? Two more came in one breath. In addition to the crazy dog-headed man who had been seen before, there was another extraordinary existence with a giant sword on his back.

His appearance is much better than that of a dog-headed man. Many times, people can't help but kneel with weak knees just by watching him walking down the street. A psychic oppression made them feel compelled to respect Aatrox, not to mention his enormous size. He is five meters tall.

But in addition to the awe of mortals, the huge size brings fear. This is a double-edged sword, and it is unavoidable. Even in the time of ancient Shurima, the most elite mortal soldiers were unavoidable to worship them, not to mention these sons of yellow sand who had degenerated to the point of no development at all.

Aatrox is not good at reassuring people. He has read a lot of books, is also quite accomplished in literature, and even wrote a collection of poems before.

But how to appease the hearts of the people he is not good at all, in the past years. The 10,000 mortal soldiers under his command only need to charge with him, and Aatrox will tear any opponent who dares to challenge him in the front. But he never did anything to appease the hearts of the people.

The reason is simple, he has never lost, except in the civil war.

And civil war... basically has nothing to do with mortals.

This matter fell on Nasus's head as it should, and Aatrox patted Nasus on the head quite naturally when he talked about it, saying that I heard you say that you are the Empire A scholar, and a historian. You must be very good at this kind of thing, right?

As for the second problem, it really needs the two of them to work together to solve it.

It took Nasus nearly half a month. While he appeased the hearts of the people, he also had to play a guest role as a mage to communicate with the yellow sand, so that the sand would recede and form a temporary road between the cities. Up to the remote Karamanda, down to the seaside Antahir, he did not let go. The importance of the road needs no explanation at any age.

Whether it's supplies in wartime, or trade that promotes development on weekdays, all these need to be delivered by a road in good condition. Nasus could swear to God that he had never missed the old-fashioned mages as much as he did now. During the Azir Dynasty, they had a whole staff of stodgy mages. Although unpopular, their strange magic undoubtedly played a very important role in the development of the empire.

There are only 70,000 mortal soldiers they can assemble at present. This number is not to mention the war with the void. Nasus and Aatrox were shocked when they got this number. They had thought about the decline of Shurima, but did not expect it to decline to this extent. A huge city-state union can only make up 70,000 soldiers...

And most don't have armor yet, and some are even less armed than the sand thieves they've seen in the wild.

Nasus was sitting in the tent, and he wasn't a red tape guy, so even a tent was fine. Even more so with Aatrox, who now always has a feeling of resistance to things like houses, he even wants to sleep on the sand every day. Even though he doesn't really need sleep for a long time.

The dog-headed man sighed and rubbed his eyebrows. He seldom did this kind of mortal act after ascension, but now it is really a headache. He thought that the two ascenders were enough to bring Shurima back to the peak, but he didn't expect... let alone returning to the peak, it would be a miracle that these gangsters could not starve themselves to death.

Nasus calculated that most cities in Shurima had food shortages, and their solution was not to hire mages to transform the land, but to trade abroad. Merchants from a series of frontier towns such as Belgün sell cultural relics and animal furs in the desert to obtain food, so as to cure the symptoms and not the root causes.

What's more, most of the food fell into the hands of the city owner. The people don't say they are full, some food is good. The number of people who starve to death every year is uncountable, no wonder there are so few soldiers.

Aatrox sat quietly beside him. He didn't understand this, but he definitely wouldn't point fingers at someone who did. If Nasus made any development decisions, Aatrox would definitely implement them immediately. He doesn't care about those identity issues at this time, as long as the empire can continue, he can do whatever he wants.

"General, the situation is very bad," Nasus couldn't help telling him.

There was undisguised anger in the eyes of the dog-headed man: "Those fat-headed bastards who only know about corruption and oppression of the poor, no one's vault is not full of people's fat. The black market and all kinds of reselling cultural relics The foreign traffickers are doing their thing in Shurima, and our civilization's heritage is there for profit!"

Aatrox didn't speak, he just patted the great sword standing beside him, and asked succinctly, "How many?"

"...What? No, General, now is not the right time to kill people. People's hearts have just stabilized, and now is not the right time."

Aatrox nodded lightly: "Can't the food problem be solved?"

Nasus sighed helplessly again. It is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. He sighed and said: "Although I have put on the agenda for land transformation, my strength alone is far from enough. It takes time to become a mage quickly. This autumn ... Shurima will starve to death. Probably more than ever."

Aatrox frowned, he asked, "I can lead the army to expand, we can get food through aggression... Ah, forget it. When I didn't say it."

Before Nasus could speak, he laughed at himself: "I have slept in the dark for too long, and the current empire cannot stand such torment. Although the Sons of Yellow Sand still exist, they are even weaker than in the past. Children are not as good, those primitive people with sticks in the outside world can be easily killed by us, but if there are no mortals, the empire will cease to exist."

"It's great to see you figure this out."

The atmosphere in the tent became dull. When Aatrox saw this, he asked again, "What about the Icathian?"

"he left."

"Hmph." Aatrox sneered disdainfully: "I knew that the Icathians were unreliable. He knew that the void was coming and ran away, right? Just like his despicable compatriots, he released those abominations with his own hands. The thing..."

"Actually, General. You may have misunderstood him. He has set off for reinforcements and will be back by next fall, which is when the mage told us he was going to attack the Void. We have a whole year left. Come prepare."

"Reinforcements? What reinforcements?" Aatrox asked in confusion.

"The world has changed a lot during your sleep. There have been many more countries, and many more powerful people. Some of them...may be willing to help us fight the void together. That's when he set out to travel the world. the goal of."

Nasus didn't look up, he was calculating something on the paper while answering Aatrox's question. He had a final hunch that he might not think about rest for a long time.